OREANDA-NEWS. August 24, 2011. Beijing Yishangmedia Investment Company Limited ("Yishangmedia") is a small enterprise primarily engaged in media business. Due to the production of film and TV programs such as the film of "Little Big Panda", Yishangmedia is in need of working capital before collecting back the sales revenue as soon as possible, reported the press-centre of ICBC.

To a typical small cultural company having not much fixed assets like Yishangmedia, the main reason for Yishangmedia to get bank loan eventually is the "Film & TV Link", an innovative loan product newly launched by ICBC. Through this loan product, Yishangmedia uses the ticketing sales of Little Big Panda, as the pledge to apply for a loan of RMB 10 million from ICBC to address its working capital shortage.

As related by an executive with ICBC, the "Film & TV Link" represents a new type of business model where cultural companies can apply for supply chain trade finance. The service has been warmly received by the customers since the pilot launch in Beijing. Besides offering factoring solution on ticketing sales, ICBC also provides loans to small Film & TV production companies who can use their account receivable from selling movie and TV drama broadcasting right to the downstream TV stations. At present, ICBC has disbursed nearly RMB100 million in "Film &TV Link" loans to small and mid-sized Film & TV production companies, providing financial support for the filming of many Film & TV dramas.

Facing with the new conditions in business transformation and strategic restructuring of the economy, ICBC takes companies in cultural sector as one important segment to tap emerging loan market. By adjusting to target credit structure in line with the progress of cultural sector, the Bank follows the state's industrial policy to lend more intensive financial support to the cultural companies. Besides winning film & TV production companies, ICBC also makes good progress in pursuing publishing companies and artistic performance companies.

When compared to other conventional sectors, most of the companies in cultural sector are small businesses, not well-capitalized, small asset scale, no assets can be used as collateral to secure bank loan. In the past banks seldom extend credit to them. Working capital becomes a bottleneck for the sector to grow. As an example, nowadays in China there are tens of thousands of firm & TV production companies. However, most of them are small enterprises. They run into funds shortage in various stages during filming and production of movie or television dramas, posting an obstacle to the production of good dramas.

In view of this, ICBC designs and provides financing services to cultural companies without sticking to the conventional business model. One aspect is to focus on the company's growth and risks by looking at the business qualification, operation capacity, experience and performance and staff team of the company. The other aspect is to grant credit based on the customer's actual cash flow or true trading background, using "future income to control" instead of "property right to control". Through the innovations in product and service model, ICBC lends intensive support to the healthy growth of small cultural companies, while ensuring credit risk control and further opening of loan market in cultural sector.

The ICBC executive said, the next move of ICBC is to give priority in terms of policy and credit outlay percentage. In extending credit to cultural companies with high efficiency, ICBC will spend efforts to win more customers, embrace innovation in business development model and speed up the process of releasing loans. Meanwhile, ICBC will continue to work with all level of government departments in charge of cultural affairs, third-party cultural promotion organizations, related credit guarantee companies and organizations engaged in cultural product trade. The objective is to cultivate and support many more small cultural companies to grow and provide financial support to the cultural sector to loom large.